Robbers, Bibles, Rainbows, Machines, Nightmare

So I'm not quite done yet with my year-end lists.

The previous two years, I listed the 20 most played songs from my it's-not-an-iPod-it's-a Creative Zen Vision M, but I'm not gonna do that now (since I wasn't able to reset the songs' play count at the start of '09.) So I'm just gonna list my 10 most listened-to albums (based on last.fm, which probably isn't very accurate either, because my last.fm widget doesn't usually work when I'm in the office, and I had some issues with using the widget on Windows Media Player, but enough side comments.) Here they are:

1. Cold War Kids – Robbers & Cowards

2. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

3. Radiohead – In Rainbows

4. Fiona Apple – Extraordinary Machine

5. Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare

6. Duffy – Rockferry

7. Up dharma Down – Fragmented

8. The Perishers – Let There Be Morning

9. Kings of Leon – Only by the Night

10. Amanda Palmer – Who Killed Amanda Palmer

So none of these albums were actually released in 2009, but whatever, I'm wired to be late in many, many ways.

I think CWK's Robbers & Cowards probably made it to #1 on the strength of this brilliant, brilliant song (not to say that the rest of the album isn't great, because it is.) Neon Bible and In Rainbows are two of my favorite albums of the decade. I mean, those CD's are outstanding work, and in the case of In Rainbows, literally priceless.

If Robbers & Cowards was on repeat because of one song, then Extraordinary Machines was probably on repeat solely because of the lines "I was feeding on the need for you to know me, devastated at the rate you fell below me." (you get bonus points from me if you know what song that came from) (without googling it up) (bonus points are irredeemable, btw.)

So that's my music list for 2009. I'd love to see yours :-) (no really, I do. I'm not just being polite.)

Best Of '09... Part 2

Best Viral Videos of 2009:

JK Wedding Entrance Dance

In second place:

Kanye Interrupts Taylor Swift at the VMA's

(worth mentioning: Baby Dancing to Single Ladies, and Susan Boyle's Britain's Got Talent Audition)

Best Weirdly Awesome/Awesomely Weird TV Character:

Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory

In second place:

Sue Sylvester, Glee

Best Dessert Place of The Year:

Classic Confections (Nono's Chocolate Oblivion cake)

In second place:

Tie: Cafe Breton (Adam and Eve crepe), Wicked Kitchen (Gluttony)

Best Fish Dish I Tasted For The First time This Year:

Cookbook Kitchen's Parmesan Crusted White Fish

In second place:

Fely J's Tilapia with Sweet Plum Sauce

Best Sandwich for Lunch In the Office:

Subway's Italian B.M.T. in Parmesan Oregano Bread with Honey Mustard and Sweet Onion dressing

In second place:

Delifrance's Frech Dip Roast Beef

Most "I don't get it..." Music Trend of 2009:

Justin Bibier being popular (I mean come on, his voice is exactly a quarter of an octave lower than Alvin and the Chipmunks')

In second place:

K-Pop girl bands.

Most Annoying Showbiz Issues of 2009:

Hayden Kho sex tapes. (Seriously, a senate hearing? So you just couldn't find anywhere else to waste our tax money on, Bong Revilla?)

In second place:

Manny Pacquiao's alleged extra-marital affair with Krista Ranillo. (At least he didn't try to beat Tiger Woods' list of hoes.)

Best Starbucks Pastry That I Eat With My Cafe Mocha:

Banoffee Pie

In second place:

Cinnamon Swirl

2009 Pinoy Hero:

Muelmar Magallanes

In second place:

Efren Peñaflorida

Best Of '09... Part 1

Best movie I saw this year:
(500) Days of Summer

In second place:

Up

Most under-appreciated TV shows (because I don't know any friend who watches this show):

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

In second place:

The Soup

Best Trip I Took In 2009:

Coron, April 2-6

In second place:

Caramoan/CWC, Feb 21-24

Best Nickelodeon TV show:

Spongebob Squarepants

In second place:

The Fairly Odd Parents

Best "The Amazing Race" elimination:

Season 15, Dubai Leg Part 2: Mika and Canaan gets eliminated after Mika refuses to go down a 90-foot waterslide, allowing Globetrooters Flight Time and Big Easy to overtake them (this after the GTs fell behind by almost an hour when they couldn't figure out the right sequence that would open the combination lock of a briefcase that holds their next clue)

In second place:

Season 14, Beijing Leg Part 2: Kisha and Jen gets eliminated after Jen insists on taking a bathroom break, allowing Jaime and Cara to overtake them (this after Kisha and Jen gets U-Turned, and Jaime and Cara got lost for 3 hours++ finding a Chinese Opera House)

Most Unwelcome News of the Year:

Typhoons Ondoy (Ketsana) and Pepeng (Parma) Flood + Damages. :(

In second place:

Ampatuan Massacre. Grrrr.

Most Addicting Website of the Year:

Facebook

In second place:

Tie: Television Without Pity/Twitter

Best Sporting Event of the Year:

Roger Federer wins a record 15th Grand Slam title in Wimbledon, 16-14 in the 5th set, over Andy Roddick

In second place:

Roger Federer wins his 14th Grand Slam title and 1st ever French Open to complete a career Grand Slam.

Before Our Noche Buena Starts...

Happy Holidays, Season's Greetings, and Merry Christmas to you all!

Here are some Christmas things I found on youtube:

Wherever you are and whoever you're with, enjoy the happy, special moments this day brings and the love of the people around you!

And The Weekend Brought Friday

A week late on the follow up post, but anyway:

So after the GO!EMEA Team Building/Pool Party at Pansol, next on the agenda was the company-wide Christmas Party on Thursday night, ok food, ok venue, but it pales hugely in comparison to the Christmas parties of previous years. Back then, it was an actual party, everyone got a door prize, and beer was overflowing; this year, there was neither.

There was the usual Jam and Groove performances though:

Groove@HP performance

The next day, we had our group/tower/bundle's offsite team building. Since we had the Christmas party the night before, and the bus to Subic was scheduled to leave Makati at 5am, that meant no sleep for me. I decided that I would just sleep on the bus, but the travel time from Manila to Subic wasn't that long... so I didn't get that much sleep. So I thought I'd just sleep while I was on the ferry, but the ferry ride didn't take too long either, so I though I would just stay at the assigned room and sleep till lunch time. Except the room wasn't available yet, check in time wasn't until 1PM. By this time I was pissed.

But since Christmas is coming, I'll just be generous and just say that I enjoyed riding the banana boat (side note: this guy didn't), playing tag on the swimming pool (and bullying our teammates who couldn't swim by tagging them and swimming to the deeper end), eating dinner in the open garden (food for lunch was CRAP!), watching our teammates/managers dance/rap/embarrass themselves for charity (I have incriminating videos), and drinking/walking around the island from room to room to look for drinking buddies.

Pics!

It Started On A Monday

So this was a really busy week...

It started out last Monday, when weeks usually do. Our team (Global Operations EMEA + CDW L3, both current and former members) and the Capacity Management Team rented a pool house in Pansol, Laguna. And getting there was a challenge. For me, at least. So I decided that since Laguna is down south, and I live down south, it made sense to just join the carpool from one of the gas stations at South Luzon Expressway. I've done this several times, so I didn't really think I would run into problems, but then I usually wait at the Shell station. This time I decided to wait at the Petron station, because I got a text from Jerwin (who lives in Laguna) that he'll be waiting there too. Anyway, when I finally got to Alabang, I couldn't find a jeep that would stop at Petron. Turns out I had to go inside the Alabang terminal and ride a GMA-bound jeep. So when I finally found the jeep, I told the driver that I'll be getting off at the Petron station, but I guess he didn't understand me because he kept on driving until we got to Carmona exit, about 4 kms away. I got off just after the toll gate, and since I wasn't familiar with the area, I just decided to ride a jeep back to Alabang and retrace my steps. Luckily, the other carpool groups coming from Makati were still at the Sucat exit, so I texted them to wait for me at the Shell station, which is a lot easier to get to from Alabang. I arrived at the Shell station at just about the same time as the carpool group, and it was smooth sailing from there.

So the point of this story is: Good thing I know how to take public transpo.

Once we got to the pool house in Pansol, we had lunch (pork adobo cooked by Cez, and tilapia that was expertly gutted by Cla), swam for a bit, played cards, and had dinner (liempo grilled by the new hires.) We also sang our lungs out all night on the videoke (especially Cla, most especially Cla. BTW, tell me if you wanna see her straight-from-the-heart wild and awesome "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" performance :p) and got drunk on beer, vodka and Bacardi 151, which is how team buildings should be. We left early the next day and went back to work in the afternoon.

Pics!

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Now playing: Up Dharma Down - the world is our playground and we will always be home
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